Is Amazon Alexa Still the Best Choice for Your Smart Home?

By Harry Guinness

Amazon Alexa devices are some of the most popular smart speakers and smart home controllers you can buy—and with good reason. They’re affordable and easy to set up, and they integrate with hundreds of smart home products, from smart lights and sound systems to smart garage door openers and HVAC controllers.

Despite a wobble or two over the last few years, Amazon Alexa’s future looks bright. So, whether you’re considering setting up a new smart home or just want to make sure you still have the right devices in your current one, let’s look at why Amazon Alexa is still a great choice.

There are lots of great Amazon Alexa devices

Let’s get a couple of terms straight: Alexa is Amazon’s voice assistant. It’s available in the Amazon Alexa app on your smartphone and on Alexa-capable devices. The most popular of these are the Amazon Echo speakers, but there are loads more.

Some of the best Amazon Alexa devices you can get right now are:

• Amazon Echo Hub smart home control panel
• Amazon Echo Pop smart speaker
• Amazon Echo Dot smart speaker
• Amazon Echo Studio smart speaker
• Amazon Echo (3rd Gen) smart speaker
• Amazon Echo Show 5 smart display
• Amazon Echo Show 8 smart display
• Amazon Echo Show 10.1 HD smart display
• Amazon Fire TV stick

And then there are so many other devices from other companies that have Alexa built in, like speakers, smart TVs and even noise-cancelling headphones.

Having so many different devices all connected to the same voice assistant platform is really powerful. I frequently set a timer using the Echo speaker in my kitchen and turn it off with the Echo Show in my office. When I’m out and about, I check the Alexa app on my iPhone to see if my partner has added anything to the shopping list. We can play music, turn on the TV and do so much more, just with the Alexa devices scattered around our home.

Amazon Alexa integrates with your smart home

While Amazon Echo devices are great in their own right, they’re at their best when you use them to control your smart home—either by using voice command, a touchscreen on a smart display or the Amazon Alexa app, or by automating things with Alexa Routines. There’s almost no limit to what you can do with an Alexa device as a smart home control.

As one of the most popular smart home platforms, there are hundreds of awesome smart home devices that integrate with Amazon Alexa right out of the box. Some of the things you can find are:

• Smart lights, like the these from TP-Link.
• Smart thermostats, like this one from Honeywell.
• Smart plugs, like this one from TP-Link that uses the Kasa app.
• Smart locks, like the SwitchBot Lock.
• Robot vacuums, like the Roomba j7+.
• And so many more.

There is a new smart home standard called Matter that will enable greater compatibility between smart home devices from different companies, but Amazon Alexa already supports it. So not only does Alexa work with tons of smart home devices now, as Matter rolls out more widely, it will support even more.

Amazon Alexa is easy to control and customize

Amazon Alexa’s voice and touchscreen controls are really easy to use. Just tell Alexa to turn on the lights or tap the light button in the app and your lights will turn on. Simple!

But you can also customize your smart home experience by using Alexa Routines. For now, you can only set Routines up using the Alexa app on your smartphone or a Fire tablet, or on an Echo smart display, but Amazon has said that in the future you’ll be able configure Routines just using your voice.

With Alexa Routines, you can control your smart home automatically and group together multiple actions. For example, you can have all your smart lights turn on automatically and your favorite radio station start playing at a certain time of day, when you say a trigger word or when you arrive home after work. At night, you can have your door lock and all your lights turn off when you get into bed.

The best is yet to come

Amazon Alexa is a great voice assistant and smart home control right now—but there’s more to come. Amazon has demoed a more powerful and conversational version of Alexa that is due out at some point this year. It’s being built with the latest generation of artificial intelligence technology and looks set to make any smart home even smarter.

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Product features and availability may have changed and are subject to change.